Tkachuk, Panthers set for 'biggest game of our season' in Game 3 of Final

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers are ready to play "by far the biggest game of our season" in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights at FLA Live Arena on Thursday (8 p.m. ET: TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS).

Florida trails 2-0 in the best-of-7 series after losing the first two games in Las Vegas by a combined score of 12-4. Tkachuk said he believes returning home will give the Panthers the spark they need to turn the series around.

"At the end of the day, this series is where it's at right now because we didn't necessarily have the best two games to start over there," the Florida forward said Thursday. "Coming back home, I think it's a breath of fresh air for every one of us to take care of home ice, like we have all playoffs, and make this a series.

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"But you can't make it a series unless you win this game tonight, so all our focus is on winning one game."

Florida is 4-3 at home in the Stanley Cup Playoffs but has won four of its past five games here. It will be the Panthers' first Stanley Cup Final game at FLA Live Arena after they played at Miami Arena in their lone previous Cup Final appearance in 1996. Florida has yet to win a Cup Final game in its history (0-6).

"Obviously, our fans are a big part of that and just being home, just having our crowd by our side and us being comfortable playing in front of our fans has just been a huge key for us," Panthers forward Anthony Duclair said. "We're looking forward to the challenge here these next two games."

After Florida felt it played well for the most part in a 5-2 loss in Game 1 on Saturday, which was tied 2-2 after two periods, it was sloppy throughout in a 7-2 loss in Game 2 on Monday that included goalie Sergei Bobrovsky being pulled in the second period after allowing four goals in 13 shots.

"In Game 1 it was right there for us and unfortunately didn't come out with it but Game 2 we definitely got beat," Tkachuk said. "Beat all over the ice, in every facet of the game. So, we definitely have a lot to improve on to get a win tonight.

The Panthers have tried to dictate play with their physicality, outhitting the Golden Knights 80-53 in the first two games. But Florida has had trouble maintaining its discipline, and Vegas has made it pay by scoring four times on 11 power plays (36.4 percent). The Panthers are 0-for-7 on the power play in the series.

So, being physical while maintaining discipline will be pivotal going forward.

"This is by far the biggest game of our season," Tkachuk said. "We know what has made us successful to get to this point and we're definitely not going to shy away from [being physical]. That being said, we do have to tweak a few things to make sure that we're able to improve the results of how we're playing right now.

Tkachuk, who is tied with Golden Knights center Jack Eichel for second in the playoffs with 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 18 games, acknowledged he's one of the Panthers players who can play better. He scored Florida's second goal in Game 2 and has six shots on goal in the series but has been assessed three minor penalties and three 10-minute misconducts.

"I'd say [I've] just got to try to have the puck more," Tkachuk said. "I have to take more pucks to the net, shoot more, be around it. I know normally when you're around the net, good things happen. We talked earlier, their [defensemen] do a good job of protecting the front of the net, but I think there's more room around it just because they're so close to it."